Soft-collar attachment



A ril 29' ,T 1924. 1,492,403

- V. SLATER v S OFT COLLAR ATTACHMENT Filed Dec. 30 192] INVEHTOF?"Patented Apr, 29, 1924. v

meant siren STATES PATENT OFFEQE.

vnren SLATER, or crrronoo, ILLINOIS, AssIGnoa rro Io N RAINFORD,'rnusrnn, on I CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. ,i

SOFT-COLLAR A'JITIACHMEN'JI- I Application filed necemberao, 1921.Serialiio. 525,865.

soft collar attachments and more particularly embodies a uniquely noveldevice, for snugly and smoothly maintaining the shape and disposition ofthe soft collar wings against undue displacement and gapping, theessential characteristics and further objects of which improveddevicewill hereinafter more fully appear.

In order to prevent the undue gapping' and flaring of the wings of suchcollars of the soft or unstarched type, the customary practice of thewearer heretofore has been to connect the ends or tips of the collarwings by means of a tape or short flexible band passed underneath thetie-knot, where a four-in-hand tie is employed, and secured to thecollar tips as by means'of complementary button holes and buttons forthe collar tips and tape ends, or in lieu of such short tapes there havealso been employed "tional view'of one'form of the device drawn 1 'ona]sub'stantiallyenlargedscale; Figure 2 is a bottom plan or rear,elevational view other analogous securing devices such as a chain, linkor even clasp pins connecting the collar tips, orthe gapping end edgesof the wings higher up than the actual tip ends, with the same end inView.

However, such devices, which are aimed to connect the tip ends of thecollar, are not satisfactorily practicable in any instance and arewholly impracticable where a bow tie is to be employed, and furthermoreit will have been observed that such devices do not support the collarwings in smoothly set disposition but, contrariwise, their tendency isto pull the collar tips together and inwardly towards the shirt bosom,causing a. bucklinglike bending of the collar tips and a central bulgingand wrinkling of the collar wings as a whole, or where at tached higherup than the actual tip ends, then to draw those portions moreparticularly together, when in either event there is a correspondingbunglesome and somewhat slovenly unsightliness that makes the collarhave a worn and soiled appearance even im mediately uponitswfirst beingput on, and obviously all the more so after wearing but av'eryshorttime, so that all of the foregoing features are and have alwaysbeen seriously objectionable and I distasteful to the neat'dresser, andmay betruly ascribedas the primary reasons why many do not wear theseextremely comfortable soft collars which they would'do. I The primaryaim of my compact structure, which 1 is comparatively inexpensive tomanufacture and market,

which is durable in use and eflective-in- I overcoming the aforesaidobjections, and

"undoubtedly otherwise I invention 'lias h beento. provlde such animproved type of I device that 18 0}? light weight,,simple and which maybe facilely attached to and del:

tached from the unexposed 'orinside faces of the collarwings but theseand other objects and advantages will be so clearly apparent asincidental tothe following disclosure that it would serve no usefulpurpose tofurth'er enlarge upon the same initially, so'thatwith thereof;Figure 3 is a front elevational view 'of'a portion of asoft collar andfour-in improvements, iniwhich so these prefacing remarks reference willnow be "immediately had to the accompanying hand tie with the improveddevice attached in place, behind the tie-knot and the wings 1 orflapendsfof the collar, thedevice itselfbeing fully hidden and illustratedin dotted lines, and' the showing of the device being I analogous indisposition to that. of Fig. l,

Figure 1- is a cross-sectional view taken in a plane along the line4 4lof Fig. 1; Figure 5 isa fragmentary cross-sectional view on the line 5of Fig. 1; Figure 6 is a plan "View of a cut blank for a slightlymodified form of the end bar supports, for the collar gap spanningspring connection,which may in fact be the preferred. form in so far aseconomical manufacture is concerned; and Figure 7 is an edge view of theblank shown at Fig. 6, but with two partially sheared sion.

projecting members bent rearwardly to provide a loop for receiving anendof the.

spring.

Referring first to Figures 1 to 5, inclusive, a pair of elongatedsupporting end members, which preferably are in the form of thin andnarrow bars or plates, are connected together by flexible means oftensile elasticity, as for instance by a flattened coil s ring, whichprovides for a freedom of exing in all directions under suitable ten- Itis to be particularly noted that these end bars, members or supports, inreality comprise relatively rigid elongated stays per se, althoughflexibly mounted by the connecting means, and are projectedlaterally atboth ends substantially beyond said flexible connecting means, orflattened-coil spring, preferably in substantially the same planethereof, being provided with means i for attachment to the inside facesof the wings of thecollar, to be disposed or extended adjacently of theend edges thereof,

and substantially parallel thereto,. all of which will more fullyhereinafter appear. For the purpose ofclearly distinguishing the frontand back of the device, the front the numeral 7 while their rearfaces'are designated at 7 and these inwardly pjrojecting spurs orimpinging teeth are bent to also slightly project forwardly; of thefront faces -6 of the *end bars, or at'least-this would appear tojbepreferable. In the drawings I have shown one of these teeth at eachextremity of the end bars and lat erally projecting inwardly at rightangles thereto, which from'my .priorexperimentations I- prefer todo,-but it is to be emphatically understood that I do not wish to imposeany such limitations on-my improvements, as it. is obvious that morethan a pair ofimpinging teeth could be employed if desired, andfurthermore they Inight be disposed otherwise than laterally of theinner edge face of the end bar.

While it might be feasible and, practical in some instances to mount thespring element centrally or even towards the lower ends of the end bars,this would in most instances be objectionable as a part ofthe'devicewould doubtless 'bevexposed, and. show under the tie knot, and thiswould be especially trueif a bow tie, was being worn. I therefore preferto mount'the spring-element a slight distance above thecenterof the endbar supports or more towards-their upper ends as illustrated.

The ends of the flattened .coil spring element, when employed instead ofother equivalent flexible connecting means, may be mounted by andattached to the end bar supports in any suitable or preferred way, andin Figures 1 to 5 I have shown the end bars as providing a depression byoffsetting a portion of the bar as indicated at 9 to form a recess 10 inthe front face of each end bar, to snugly seat its complementary springend with the front face 8 of the latter substantially flush with theplane of the front face 6 of the end bar, it being also observed thatthe inner edge of the end bars provide a slight projection or seatingweb indicated at 11, and it being understood that the spring ends areattached to their complementary end bar supports in any suitable way.

In the form of'end bar shown at Figs. 6 and 7, the-front face thereof isdesignated at 16 and its rear face at 16, while 17 and 17 respectivelyindicate the front and back faces of the triangular impinging teeth.

In this form, however, the seating web section-or zone 18,correspondingto the inwardly projecting lateral web 11 of the otherfigures, is of-slightly different formation and embodies a pair ofoppositely projected sec- .tions or tongues or strips 20, normallydisposed longitudinally in the plane of the main body portion. butpartially sheared or separated therefrom bythe-slits21, which tonguestrips or. extensions 20 are adapted to be bent finally to form arearwardly projected loop for snugly encompassing a complementary springend ,of the'connection 8- -8' with the forward face of the latter lyingsubstantially/flush with the front face 16 of thewend bars, all of whichwill be clearly apparent and fully understood without the specificillustration of the coil spring in these views.

Topermit of theptongues 20 being bent more. accurately, it may bepreferable to further provide an integral lateral lip or short extension19, which forms a continuation of the web 18 between the inner ends ofthe slits 21, and if desired this lip ,ex

tension 19 may bebent rearwardly for insertion between the coils of theadjacent spring end, so that when the tongues 20 are bent or wrappedrearwardly over the spring ends the lip extensions 19 would furtherfunction as cooperatinglocking lugs to -more positively secure thespring ends against displacement.

At all events it will be observed that, in

both forms of the device, the elongated end the flexible connectingmeans therebetween.

Referring now to the application of the improved device to a soft collaras specifically illustrated at Figure 3, wherein the collar ends orwings are indicated at 12, the neckband of a tie at 13 and thetie-knotat 14, it will be observed that one end bar is affixed to theinside face of one of the collar wings 12 by means of the impingingteeth while the other end bar is likewise affixed to the inside face ofthe other collar wing with the coiled spring slightly distended andsnugly supporting or backing the rear of the tie-knot to slightly holdthe latter forwardly in proper disposition against sagging. Furthermore,it will be observed that the elongated end bars serve not only as asupport for smoothly holding the collar wings against sagging orwrinkling but also the coiled spring exerts a slight but uniform pull onthe end bars towards each other, and thus maintains a uniform spaceacross the gap between the edges of'the collar wings without pulling thetips thereof inwardly underneath the tie-knot, or in other words by theemployment of my improved attachment a soft collar is held in the sameproper position with reference to the ends of its wings as would be theproper fitting of a highly starched or stiff collar, thus providing fora more dressy appearance. It may be further stated that the impingingpins are not passed through the front layer of the soft collar but onlythrough the rear layer so that no part of the device is exposed to view.

From all of the foregoing it is believed that the great utility andcomplete advantages of the novel article of manufacture will be clearlyunderstood, but while I have thus disclosed certain specific embodimentsof the improvements it will be understood that I do not wish tounnecessarily limit myself to all of the details as disclosed, exceptingas they may come within the terms of the ensuing claims or a fairinterpretation thereof in the light of the specification if necessary,as it is obvious that minor alterations might be made without departingfrom the gist of the invention. For instance, while it would appear tobe more satisfactory to stamp the end bars out of thin metal with theimpinging pins integral therewith, it might be feasible to accomplishthe desired ends by,

other equivalent means, but for practical commercial manufacture it isbelieved that the forms actually illustrated would be preferable.

What I do claim as new and patentable 1s 1. In attachments for softcollars, a holding device for the wings of the latter embodying a pairof stiffened elongated end supports which provide means for detachablysecuring same to said wings adjacent the end edges thereof, and flexiblemeans of tensile elasticity connecting said end supports in laterallyspaced relation, the said elongated end supports being projectedlaterally at both ends substantially beyond the flexible connectingmeans therebetween.

2. In attachments for soft collars, a hold ing device for the wings ofthe'latter embodying a pair of stiffened elongated end supports whichprovide means for detachably securing same to said wings at the rearface thereof and contiguously of their end edges, and a flexible elementconnecting said end supports, in laterally spaced relation, at positionstowards the upper ends thereof.

3. In attachments for soft collars, a holding device for the wings ofthe latter embodying a pair of stiflened elongated end supports whichprovide suitable fastening projections for detachably securing said endsupports flatwise of the rear faces of said wings and contiguously oftheir end edges, and flexible means of tensile elasticity connectingsaid end supports in laterally spaced relation, the said elongated endsupports being projected laterally at both ends substantially beyond theflexible connecting means therebetween.

4-. In attachments for soft collars, a holding device for the wings ofthe latter embodying a pair of elongated end supports formed of thinmetal and which provide integral impinging teeth for detachably securingsaid end supports flatwise of the rear faces of said wings, and aflexible element connectingsaid end supports in laterally spacedrelation, the said elongated end supports being projected laterally atboth ends substantially beyond the flexible connecting meanstherebetween.

5. In attachments for soft collars, a holding device for the wings ofthe latter embodying a pair of stifl'ened elongated end supports whichprovide means for detachably securing same to said wings, and a freelyflexing coiled flattened spring mounting said end supports in laterallyspaced relation, and in substantially the same plane therewith, the saidelongated end supports being projected laterally at both endssubstantially beyond said flattened coiled spring.

6. In attachments for soft collars, a holding device for the wings ofthe latter embodying a pair of stiflened elongated end supports whichprovide means for detachably securing same to said wings, and a freelyflexing coiled spring extending between and mounting said end supports,in laterally spaced relation, at positions towards the upper endsthereof.

7. In attachments for soft collars, a holding device for the wings ofthe latter embodying a pair of stiffened elongated end supports whichprovide suitable fastening projections for detachably securing said endsupports fiatwise of the rear faces of said Wings and contiguously oftheir end edges, and a freely flexing flattened coiled spring extendingbetween and mounting said end supports in laterally spaced relation, the

said elongated end supports being projected laterally at both endssubstantially beyond said flattened coiled spring.

8. In attachments for soft collars, a hold ing device for the wings ofthe latter embodying a pair of elongated end supports formed of thinmetal and which provide integral impinging teeth for detachablysecuring: said end supports flatwise, to said Wings, and a freelyflexing flattened coiled s rin extendin between and mountin 23 C) b saidend s'upports'in laterally spaced relation, and insubstantially the sameplane therewith, the said elongated end supports being projectedlaterally at both ends substantially beyond said flattened coiledspring.

In testimony whereof, I affix mysignature. Y

VERN SLATER.

